Actually I may slip from the collector (and enjoyer of my collection) into the operator category some day, so I better get back to lurking, but I will say you need lightning fast fingers on page refresh in the sales section because anything nice does NOT hang around long! And if you're on ebay then you need very deep pockets.

Maybe there should be a 'fair chance' section, where you have to anonymously 'express interest' on an item, and the seller can randomly pick a buyer to commit the sale and then get their details and identity. Obviously that's a bit of web coding and not something that would work straight off in a forum, and sellers would have to expressly partake in the mechanism. Sometimes I'de prefer that though, so even I get a chance!

Breaking pefectly good working cabs for profit Or getting forum deals and flipping is wrongI would say no to those kind of ops/peopleJust in this for cash Its hard to poice who is who no stopping Someone making another account

Well as an arcade engineer maybe myself and anybody that makes money from arcade machines shouldn't be aloud on here, but I think it would be a sad an lonely place, as without the people doing this for a business there wouldn't be many people with the experience or knowledge to try and help fix these things. And there wouldn't be a hobby to start with if there wasn't any operators selling out of date gear to the public when it becomes obsolete . Remember most if not all the old machines that we now collect have been bought and used to make money at some point in there lives, the whole point of arcade machines is to make money. I myself love trying to keep the old machines running, there more interesting to work on an it makes me smile when I see a family playing on an old game especially when the parents say to there kids 'I used to play on this when I was your age'CheersIan

there wouldn't be a hobby to start with if there wasn't any operators selling out of date gear to the public when it becomes obsolete

This.

Even 20+ years ago ops were reluctant to sell to some Joe going in and making them a cash offer in case they got any kind of hassle. If you want to see all future cabs that are no longer financially viable to operate go into a fire this could be the way to do it.

if an op wants to sell stuff on here at forum prices I don't see it as a problem,however if they want £2000 for a beat up jamma cab,converted to lcd with 50 buttons and a pandoras box,no collector is going to buy it.,if like u72 they buy cabs,but then they are available for public use,what is peoples problem,please let's not get back to the "hoover" and "media whore" culture!

I’ve often thought sort of “membership” to an “arcade lifestyle” society could be a good idea for at least us lot in Europe.

There would be an open and honest membership policy to exclude rippers and flippers.

One of many advantages could be a “WTB” section, where we load up what cabs, bits etc we are on the lookout for.

Also, a KLOV style DB of cabs, with the history and previous owners (possibly links to renovation blogs etc).

I’ve even thought about a “rescue fund”, where members paid in a fiver or so a month, and the funds used to save some poor gem from Death By HyperSpin...funds would always belong to the members, could be refunded when a cab or whatever got sold.

Ops who are generally supportive of the arcade lifestyle- of course they’d be members; they are part of the ecosystem.

I probably think too much though....the curse of a stressful but boring job!

Just curious, how would you suggest a 'no operator' policy would be implemented and maintained?

I think in reality there's some understandable irritation from the OP built up over a lost trade (or trades) that's spilt over into this. I do wonder would the forum really be upset if one of the larger operators decided to sell all their cabs on here - I suspect not.

I also think for the most part the forum is self regulating. People will quickly spot scammers or flippers and they are always at liberty to sell to whomever they want once they've put something up for sale. If you personally would rather not sell something to a known operator - thats your choice. For the most part the 'operators' of which you speak are well known and do not try to hide. There will always be one or two unscrupulous people but that's just life.

I think from speaking to a few of them, the larger operators do show *some* restraint on here and try and leave cabs for sale for a while before swooping in to give the collectors a chance. The days of 'forum prices' are imo largely over, except where people deal with people they already know really well and in real life. Meets are the place to make and get decent prices on cabs and parts these days.

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